Upon receiving the news, Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, said: “Whereas TUT has never pursued rankings for the sake of rankings, we cannot underestimate the significance of such a massive vote of confidence, coming as it does, from our national and global peers. It is absolutely spectacular for an 18-year old institution like TUT to already be counted among the best universities nationally and globally. Some of these universities are more than two hundred years old. It is an amazing achievement for TUT to be considered top of the class of South African universities of technology when it comes to the subjects of computer science, engineering and physical science.”
Full credit must go to the TUT army of researchers and academics. They are giving an excellent account of themselves, while at the same time making a huge contribution to knowledge creation and to the national skills revolution. Truly, TUT is moving from good to great.
The Times Higher Education ranking is a global performance ranking system that adjudicates research intensive universities. It assesses 13 performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons. These are grouped into five areas: Teaching (the learning environment); Research (volume, income and reputation); Citations (research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry Income (knowledge transfer).
This year’s ranking analysed 11 broad fields of study, including arts and humanities, law, education, health as well as science and technology, among others. BusinessTech looked at which universities ranked top in technical fields, including Computer Science, Engineering and Physical Sciences.
“Our University has progressively done well in global rankings. Rankings have undoubtedly become a significant part of the tertiary education landscape, both locally and globally and help maintain and build institutional position and reputation. Students use rankings to ‘shortlist’ university choice, especially postgraduates and key stakeholders use rankings to influence their decisions about accreditation, funding, sponsorship and employee recruitment. We are extremely proud that the Faculty’s work is also recognised nationally and internationally,” says Dr Grace Kanakana, Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.
In conclusion, Prof Maluleke also pointed out that when it comes to the Times Higher Education 2022/2023 physical science subject rankings, TUT scored higher than universities like UJ, UP and WITS. Similarly, in the engineering subject rankings TUT was ahead of universities such as UCT, UP, UKZN and WITS. “This is truly phenomenal. TUT academics deserve all the praise,” he said.